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Connecting with the Public
The New Philosophy of Communication. As we have enter in age of technology the old outdated philosophy of reaching to the public by mean of press releases and writing articles for trade magazines has seen its better days. Between Twitter, Facebook and everything in between social media has become a primary tool to connecting their ideas product or services to the public. This page touches on the modern strategies for communicating with through social media to the public, more specifically investors, prospective employees, community members and industry colleagues. With today’s technology making it much easier to portray and publicize ideas and concepts it still remains a consent that each tool should effectively and efficiently present information to their audiences"Class Lecture" O'Brien, Daune. through all forms. All which a technical communicator should know. Understanding The Role of Connecting with the Public. One of the most critical expectations the public has towards a company is that the company themselves are accountable. This expectations spans across all kinds of organizations, expecting honesty, clarity and responsibility on their actions. A great example the course textbook " Technical Communication Mike Markel" page 636 portrays is how car makers are responding to the expectation of the public and the challenges of global warming. Questions were ask such as: #· What are you doing to improve the gas mileage? #· What are you doing to reduce carbon footprint of your manufacturing facilities? #· What are you doing to improve the safety of your vehicle? #· What are you doing to increase employment? #· What are you doing to improve socioeconomic conditions of the communities around the facilities? All these question which relate to the core of any car manufacturer sets a stage where the manufacturer can connect them to the public within a common interest. Connecting to the public allows companies to gain feedback and criticism as well establishing themselves as part of their public communities. Other companies on a more progressive approach to community and environment outreach take it a step further and connects to the public first. CEO Jeff Swarts of Timberland uses Facebook and Twitter to communicate the concerns of the environment, setting himself apart of his community. As company become a part of their community honesty, clarity and responsibility follow suite as the conversations continue between the public and a company. Persuasion and connecting to the Public All application of presenting information following this segment all share one characteristic, they hold a persuasive argument. Each argument is ideally there to appeal to one or several of the public’s concerns and/or goals. Being clear and compelling each claim should be based on appropriate evidence which concerns themselves with the public in the criteria’s of: * Security - resistances of controversial actions that will hurt their own interests. *. Recognition - being praised for their hard work and successes. *. Personal or professional growth - the wanting to develop and grow on the job. *Connectedness - being part of communities. Connecting to the Public through social Media As the some of the nation’s largest companies actively participate in social media it has now become a necessary attribute for a technical writing to be able use social media as a tool. Statistics from the textbook" Technical Communication Mike Markel" page 638 show that two – thirds of those companies have twitter feeds, half have fan pages on Facebook. Social media has not stopped just at the fortune 100 companies, government agencies such as NASA and the CDC have implemented the usage of social media to announce news and share photos to the public. As they’re vast amount of social media tools we will overview two of the most useful application of social media. Writing in different Genres can be tricky, referring to our Different Genres wiki page can help distinguish between them. If you liked to explore the other tools in the digital space continue on to Collaboration Through Social Media and other Electronic Tools #Discussions board, where readers can reply to post #Blogs where comments can be left and responded to An Effective Discussion Board Sometimes called a forum, a discussion board should allow people to have discussion about the topics covered by the board. Sometimes discussions can used to learn about what people think about a product, or share problems with that product. Discussions boards serves as a great way for companies to devote information to a product. Keys to participating: *Share your Knowledge *do your homework before posting questions *support your claims with evidence *stay on topic *avoid personal attacks *disclose potential conflicts of interest An Effective Blog. In a sentences a blogs allow the public to post their thoughts and opinions on the internet. Often time’s people use blogs in their personal lives to stay in touch with one another, write about hobbies or even speak upon social commentary. Most large companies host blogs to provide an avenue for the public and intended audience to gain information, bring the public into the companies’ world which creates that community, honesty which we spoke of early in this page. Blogs also are major part of many companies’ internal affairs. Blogs provide a place for employees to communicate their organizations operations and places. Inc,com provides excellent tips to become a effective blogger . Keys to Blogging: #know and follow your company's blogging polices #provide good content without saying to much #use an authentic voice #avoid conflicts of interest #manage your time carefully #follow up on negative comments Final Suggestion All these tools at your figure tips can be effective way at communicating with the public The effort to communicate with the public establishes honesty, reliability and clarity to them all in which contributes to a successful company and a successful technical communicator. Other areas that a technical communicator will need to be proficient in are: Memos, Conducting Meetings .Group Project , Resumes And Cover Letters, and Writing Collaboratively (click on the link to jump to the subject) Sources Markel, Michael H. Technical Communication. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2010. Print. O'Brien, Daune. "Class Lecture" English 393 Technical Writing. N.p., n.d. Nov. 2014